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LEGENDS 

OF THE 

Pike's Peak Region 



LEGENDS 



OF THE 



P ike's Peak Region 

The Sacred Myths of the Manitou 



s BY 

ERNEST WHITNEY, M. A 



ASSISTED BY 

WILLIAM S. ALEXANDER 

ILLUSTRATED BY THOMAS C. PARRISH 



3tf2-9 X 



PUBLISHED BY 

THE CHAIN & HARDY CO 

DENVER, COLORADO 
1892 






COPYRIGHT, 1892, BY 
THE CHAIN & HARDY BOOK, STATIONERY & ART CO. 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

On the Waters Toward the Gate of Heaven 7 

The Healing Fountain and Pike's Peak 17 

The Great Dragon 3 1 

" Temple of the Lesser Spirits 41 

■ The Wigwam of the Manitou 53 




OWEVER un- 
couth they may be, 
the myths and le- 
gends of early na- 
tions, like the po- 
etry of later, give 
the highest and 
truest exponents of their characters, and pre- 
serve with a singular fidelity the very essence 
of their daily lives, their fears and hopes, their 
assumptions and intuitions. It is proverbial 



•«»! C.PARHKH 



LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. Q 

that the songs of a people are stronger than 
their laws; and the myths and traditions em- 
bodying the sentiments upon which national 
character, national religion, are founded, are 
more powerful than the songs, which they 
inspire. A ballad of the people, a bit of folk 
lore, may teach us more than whole chapters 
of history; we can hardly understand history 
without such lights. 

A century ago Scotland was to England 
what Bceotia was to cultured Athens, pro- 
verbially the land of the uninteresting, the 
kingdom of dullness and prose; yet every lake 
and stream, every glen and rock wore the 
halo of poetry, the glamour of romance; and 
when the Wizard of the North drew aside 
the veil of prejudice, the eyes of all England 
were opened as to visions, and the "land of 
the mountain and the flood" became as famil- 
iar and dear as the favored haunts of home. 
Scott had discovered a new world, new even 
to the dwellers in it. Gathering the tangled, 
distorted fragments of tradition floating about 
his native hills and dales, traditions full of 
romance, yet despised or belittled as trifles 



10 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 

even by those from whom he learned them, 
he gave to the world such pleasures of enter- 
tainment as it had seldom known before. 
And he gave to his country fame, and the 
intellectual stimulus which led to its prosper- 
ity. Thenceforth Scotland was one of the 
beloved spots of the earth. Our historian, 
Prescott, states that after the publication of 

11 'The Lady of the Lake' the post-horse duty 
rose to an extraordinary degree in Scotland 
from the eagerness of travelers to visit the 
localities of the poem." Another has said 
that indeed the race of tourists was called into 
existence by the pen of Scott. 

What those neglected legends were to Scot- 
land, Colorado's are to her. We scan the 
glories of her scenery, surpassing the mar- 
vels of the Alps, the beauties of the Rhine, 
and lament the absence of tradition to give 
them the charm of Old World scenes. The 
tourist notes this seeming sterility with a 
touch of prejudice. "But where are your 
traditions?" is the final, question; and the 
answer is, "We have none; our history is too 
recent." Yet the romantic Rhine cliffs, or even 



LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. II 

the land of sphinx and pyramid, did not rise 
above the ocean until its waves had beaten for 
ages at the base of Rocky Mountain peaks. 
This is the Old World, Europe and India are 
of the New. And if nature in fantastic play 
has made this the world's wonderland, much 
more has man through centuries written and 
rewritten its fading pages with the mysteries 
of immemorial myths, legends, and traditions. 
From Pike's Peak to Popocatepetl the land is 
a palimpsest, dotted with ruins of remotest 
antiquity, the relics of a people whose records 
are replete with poetry and strange romance. 
Their manuscripts enrich the archives of Mex- 
ico and Madrid, and yet we learn but little of 
them. They moulder in the missions of the 
suspicious Spanish priests, or among the mys- 
tic treasures of the Pueblos, and are decaying 
unread. When we come northward to the 
paths of later pioneers, to lands of less civil- 
ized races, where history lives by oral trans- 
mission only, hardly a legend but has lapsed 
into oblivion. Those only can live which are 
united to something concrete and enduring, or 
which are so vitally interwoven that the life of 



12 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 

one tradition insures the life of another. The 
early hunters looked upon natives whom they 
met as savage aliens rather than possibly 
kindred beings, and cared more for their furs 
and gold dust than for any history of their 
peoples. But even yet much may be regained 
from a study of the records of Spanish priests, 
from the lips of living races, and from the 
thickly scattered ruins, many of which are 
even yet undiscovered, nearly all of which are 
practically uninvestigated. Indeed, much has 
been regained, and from the mass of material 
in the collections of Bancroft and others, and 
from results of original research, the present 
writer has sought to extract what is most 
interesting to the audience to whom this little 
book is offered. 

The perhaps most remarkable cycle of 
myths north of Mexico, the Sacred Myths of 
the Manitou, might have perished, or lost their 
home and identity at least, in another decade, 
though the loss of such interesting relics of 
aboriginal thought would have seemed inex- 
cusable. But what we yet retain is sufficient 
to appeal to the imagination most vividly, and 



LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. I 3 

its restoration in this late day seems almost to 
partake of the nature of strange revelation. 
We ask who were the people among whom 
such fables originated. The question as to 
the identity of the earliest inhabitants in the 
Pike's Peak region is a difficult one to answer, 
but the conclusion of the latest historian is 
that a race which had made considerable prog- 
ress in civilization dwelt for centuries in Colo- 
rado. Then a more barbarous people en- 
croached upon its territory, and it was crowded 
southward step by step, advancing in civiliza- 
tion as it was driven from barbarism, leaving 
picturesque ruins along its later path. It is 
the conjecture of many students that this peo- 
ple was none other than "that mystic race of 
Aztlan, who, ages before, had descended into 
the valley [of Mexico] like an inundation 
from the north; the race whose religion was 
founded upon credulity; the race full of chiv- 
alry, but horribly governed by a crafty priest- 
hood." 

The situation of Aztlan, the ancient home 
of the Aztecs, is the most puzzling question in 
Mexican history. At all events, it was almost 



14 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 

certainly north of Mexico, but whether it 
linked the home of the Aztec and Toltec to 
California on the northwest, or to Colorado on 
the northeast, it seems impossible for the un- 
prejudiced historian to decide. The latest 
and safest guide through the conflict of vary- 
ing assertions, Mr. Justin Winsor, represents a 
consensus of the wisest and most conservative 
opinions. He is inclined to believe that un- 
doubtedly two streams of immigration, one on 
each side of the Rocky Mountains, flowed 
together into Mexico. Toltec tradition tells 
of a long sojourn some twelve centuries ago in 
a land called Hue Hue Tlapallan, which means 
"Old Red Land," and a local historian has 
called attention to its hint of Colorado — 

"Which fair Columbia, bending toward the West, 
Now wears a crimson rose upon her breast — " 

land of "crimson-hued rocks and yellow 
plains," the "land of red earth." Certainly no 
place but the wonderful Grand Caverns of 
Manitou and the several caves of William's 
Canon has been found in the probable range 
of Aztec migration, which can be so well ident- 



LEGENDS OF THE PIKES PEAK REGION. I 5 

ified with the mysterious "Seven Caves" of 
Aztlan, so often mentioned in Mexican myths. 
It was the sacred birth-place of their great 
god Huitzil, and to it sacerdotal embassies 
were sent even as late as the year before the 
invasion of Cortez. The early explorer whose 
name the great mountain now bears, shows 
that a Via Sacra from Mexico northward to 
the peak was long kept open. "Indeed," Pike 
wrote of the mountain in 1806, "it was so re- 
markable as to be known by all the savage 
nations for hundreds of miles around, and to 
be spoken of with admiration by the Spaniards 
of New Mexico, and was the bound of their 
travels northwest." It is not unlikely that the 
knowledge of an open and traveled- path, and 
the belief that it led to temples rich in gold 
and jewels, led the earlier Spaniards to their 
northern settlements and later excursions. 
The tribe of Montezuma was but one of a 
group of tribes each of which contributed its 
quota to the phenomenal civilization of the 
empire of Anahuac during the fifteenth and six- 
teenth centuries. Even granting that neither 
Aztecs nor Toltecs rose in Colorado, it may 



1 6 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 

still be confidently believed that at least one of 
the most important Nahuan nations learned its 
early lessons of barbaric culture under the 
tuition of Pike's Peak. And this tribe or na- 
tion during the slow migration, or soon after, 
was completely absorbed by the Aztec stream, 
if it was not the leader of it. What more 
probable ? If it did not join this stream what 
was its fate ? 



m*. 



t4#v'\jili 




HEN in these 
"Sacred Myths of 
^""^the Manitou," we 
perhaps see re- 
flected some dim germs of that wonderful 
religion, which was at once the strength and 
weakness of the illustrious victims of Cortez. 
Five, ten, or perhaps fifteen centuries ago 
the dwellers along the great mountain slope 
and adjacent plains had learned to look upon 
that region around the eastern base of Pike's 
Peak as one made sacred by a thousand 



LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 19 

powerful associations. The great peak seen 
forty leagues away, towering among and 
wedged between the stars, "pinnacled dim in 
the intense inane," was to them the symbol of 
a god, the abode of the All-Father, the wig- 
wam of the Manitou. The wide ranges of alps 
on either side of it — the broad plains sublime 
in their infinity — even the mysteriously-born 
Father of Waters — none of these had the 
influence upon the superstitious and super- 
religious native which was exerted by that 
ever-watching warden of the west. Probably 
these early comers first saw the mountain after 
months of dreary wanderings over the desolate 
prairies. Awful in loneliness when seen afar, 
silent and motionless as death, they drew near 
and found it filled with life strange and ennob- 
ling, and with a kindly nature, ready to stoop 
and mingle with the human and make them 
rich with blessings. It was a mountain of 
mystery. To the dwellers on the monotonous 
eastern levels, its ever varying miracles of light 
and shadow were revelations of infinite spir- 
itual power, and the sun-worshiper was ever 
drawn nearer to its presence where the myster- 



20 LEGENDS OF XHE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 

ious manifestations could be better seen. If 
the hunter wandered out of its sight, it was at 
times perhaps with a feeling of relief, as at 
escaping from an almost burdensome over- 
sight; yet he dared not stay long in the lands 
lying beyond its guardianship. It was a never 
forgotten element in life. If he slew the deer 
or buffalo, a quick word of gratitude was sent 
across the plains. If sometime a dark thought 
came to him, he glanced furtively at this 
reader of thoughts, and faltered. If in lone 
venturing, perils confronted him, he would lift 
up his eyes to the hills whence came his help, 
and go forward with new courage. If the 
tribes rallied for the war path, they sat in 
reverence and hope before this god of peaceful 
heavens, until tempest darkened and hid his 
face, and then like storm swept down to cer- 
tain victory. But if this oracle gave no show 
of anger, rash was the chieftain who dare 
attack a foe save in absolute and immediate 
self-defense. 

The story is told that a great and pow- 
erful nation from remote regions once invaded 
the lands of the children of the Manitou. 



LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 21 

Day after day the war band advanced to- 
ward this heart of the empire, and every day 
the threateningly severe mountain-god seemed 
more remote, more terrible, than before, until 
at last, overcome with superstitious dread, 
they turned back, believing it was impossible 
to harm his people or do battle in his awful 
presence. 

Such were some of the thoughts which 
this mysterious mountain inspired in primi- 
tive minds. To them whatever of nature was 
strange, beautiful, sublime, or powerful, was 
worshipful. It was not unnatural that the 
mountain should become dominant in their 
religious system. Sun worshipers already, 
what sublimer, nobler idolatry could there be 
than theirs for this priest of the sun in the 
land of undimmed heavens! Even the pilgrim 
of to-day would fain uncover and bend the 
knee before its tonsured head. That colossal 
Face upon the mountain side was the first of 
all American idols. 

Civilization made progress among the 
chosen people here, and there was much of 
nobility and thoughtfulness in individual 



22 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 

characters. Their climate, the gift of the 
Manitou, made them a strong race physi- 
cally, but they were, perhaps, chiefly feared 
and respected for their institutions and their 
distinguished religion. We have records full 
of detail of religious systems far more remark- 
able, or more completely developed, among 
the Nahuan nations. Torquemada estimates 
the number of temples in Anahuac to have 
been 80,000, and Clavigero places the number 
of priests in these temples at 1,000,000. Every 
year twenty to fifty-thousand human beings 
were sacrificed on their altars. The myths 
and fables of their religion fill huge volumes. 
But probably nowhere north of Old Mexico 
can be found traces of a theology anywhere 
nearly approaching in simplicity and granduer 
this one which had its Ararat, its Eden, and 
its Salem in the Pike's Peak region. For here 
they looked as to the cradle and the Mecca of 
their race. The scant reflections which are 
given of this religion to-day, like the clouds of 
a fading sunset, can barely suggest the glory 
of that sunset, the wide-streaming radiance of 
the by-gone day. 



LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 23 

The archaeologist, tracing the religious 
history of the Greeks, finds in the early home 
of one of their tribes the ruins of a temple, 
and the torsos and other fragments of a group 
of statues. It is his first duty to preserve 
these exactly as they are found. It is a second 
obligation so to study the temple, and the 
arrangement of the sculptured fragments 
around and within it, that, if possible, he 
may understand and interpret the spiritual 
meaning of the whole, as an exponent of the 
religion. In this work he will take assistance 
from history and from myth, and he will be 
aided by comparison with other temples. If 
obvious portions of the original group are 
hopelessly missing, his special knowledge 
may warrant the restoration of an arm or head 
or possibly an entire figure. After the manner 
of the archaeologist, we have delved among the 
ruins of a forsaken temple. We have studied 
the history, actual and mythical, of the race 
who revered its shrines. And with the best 
lights vouchsafed to us, we have tried to give, 
in a form agreeable to the general reader, our 
restoration of the myths of that ancient 



24 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 

religion. If we have felt it necessary here 
and there to add a touch of completeness 
almost arbitrarily, we have been so guided 
by careful study of the myth makers and of 
cognate religions as to feel warranted in each 
case. 

The breath and finer spirit of a purely 
human religion, if any religion is purely 
human, is not always well shown in those 
myths and fables which are its most conspicu- 
ous chronicles for later times. The fables 
may be full of the grotesque and the absurd, 
mere blind and awkward gropings after a 
system where all was vague and mystic 
at first. The first explanation of a crude 
theolgy will, it is likely, be accepted as 
the best. And in process of oral trans- 
mission through generations all the myths 
will suffer strange modifications without losing 
their main identity. Thus none of the earliest 
names of the deities in the myths before us 
have been preserved, and Manitou, the com- 
mon name of the supreme deity of the later 
races, has been adopted from the legends of 
later tribes. 



LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 25 

The origin of a cycle of myths like the one 
we are interested in was probably very much 
in this wise, if we may trust the teaching of 
analogy. A tribe, naturally of a roving dispo- 
sition, driven from their river home by a series 
of devastating floods, strikes boldly out for new 
fortunes in the unknown prairies. Long, toil- 
some journeys bring them at last to the foot of 
the peak, where they make a new home, won 
by the genial climate, fertile soil, and varied 
topography. Gradually the tribe increases, 
its power spreads, and it controls all the 
region round about. It is called the Mountain 
Tribe. Its members are children of the Moun- 
tain. It is not long before these dwellers by 
the Wigwam of the Manitou are called chil- 
dren of the Manitou, and they believe in a god 
as their creator and the mountain as their 
birthplace. Later the story develops into the 
true mythological form, uniting their earlier 
and later religious ideas; and traditions com- 
mon to all races of mankind, wherever found, 
are woven into it. So in its later shape we 
have the following: 

At the beginning of all things the Lesser 



26 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 

Spirits possessed the earth, and dwelt near the 
banks of the Great River. They had created 
a race of men to be their servants, but these 
men were far inferior to the present inhabi- 
tants of the earth, and made endless trouble 
for their creators. Therefore the Lesser 
Spirits resolved to destroy mankind and 
the earth itself ; so they caused the Great 
River to rise until it burst its banks and over- 
whelmed everything. They themselves took 
each a large portion of the best of the earth, 
that they might create a new world, and a 
quantity of maize which had been their par- 
ticular food, and returned to heaven. Arriv- 
ing at the gate of heaven, which is at the end 
of the plains, where the sky and the mountains 
meet, they were told that they could not bring 
such burdens of earth into heaven. Accord- 
ingly they dropped them all then and there. 
These falling masses made a great heap on 
the top of the world which rose far above the 
waters, and this was the origin of Pike's Peak, 
which is thus shown to be directly under the 
gate of heaven. Formerly it was twice as high 
as it is now, but lost its summit as we shall 



LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 27 

see later on. The rock masses upon it and all 
about it, show plainly that they have been 
dropped from the sky. The extent and 
variety of mineral wealth in the region prove 
that the earth's choicest materials are depos- 
ited here. And still as the constellations 
move across the heavens and vanish above 
the mountain summits, we may see the spirits 
rise from the Great River, and pass to the gate 
of heaven. The falling stars are their falling 
burdens, or the dropping grains of maize. 

As the Lesser Spirits held their flight to 
the gate of heaven from time to time grains of 
their maize fell to the earth. These germs 
being especially blest by their contact with 
the immortals, sprang up with wonderful vigor 
even under the waters of the flood, and soon 
reached the surface, where they quickly 
ripened. Now among the inhabitants of the 
earth left to destruction, was one man who by 
secretly feeding upon the food of the Spirits, 
the sacred maize, had become much stronger 
and superior in every way to his fellow beings. 
Such was his strength that he succeeded in 
sustaining himself and his wife above the 



28 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 

waters for a very long time. Suddenly a 
maize stalk rose before him and blossomed 
into fruit. Breaking a joint from it, he soon 
fashioned this into a rude boat in which he 
took refuge with his wife. In commemoration 
of this the maize stalk was ever after hollowed 
on one side. Not knowing what direction to 
take on the pathless waters, he paddled toward 
the only other object visible upon the face of 
the deep. On approaching, this proved to be 
another maize stalk. Upon it were a pair of 
field mice which shared with him their supply 
of grain. Launching forth again he paddled 
toward another object visible in the distance, 
which proved to be another maize plant. It 
was held by a pair of gophers which were as 
generous as the field mice with their corn, and 
gave enough to sustain life until he reached 
the next maize plant. Thus unconsciously fol- 
lowing the course of the Lesser Spirits, he 
passed in turn the maize plants of the prairie 
dog, the squirrel, the rabbit, and all the 
animals, and then came to the maize plants of 
the birds, until passing from one to another he 
came to the mountain. Having landed his 



LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 29 

boat upon it, the man died of exhaustion, and 
the woman died soon after, in the pains of 
maternity, giving birth to a boy and girl. 

The Spirits, looking down from the gate of 
heaven, had watched the long voyage of hard- 
ship with deep interest, and their sympathies 
were aroused for the forsaken creatures on the 
bleak island peak. Thinking that there was 
after all something worth preserving here, they 
endowed the infants with gifts raising them 
above their ancestors in intelligence and 
power. And feeding upon the sacred maize 
which the Spirits had dropped on the top of 
the mountain, the children rapidly advanced 
to the age of maturity. One is minded of — 

"There shall be a handful of corn in the 
earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit 
thereof shall shake like Lebanon; and they of 
the city shall flourish like grass of the earth." 

Then the Spirits loosed one of the monsters 
of heaven, the Lizard Dragon, Thirst. Seeing 
the great satisfaction offered him, the huge 
creature plunged directly to the watery world 
beneath. The waters entirely engulfed him, 
and for the first time his unquenchable passion 



30 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 

knew something like gratification. He drank 
and drank and drank, and every day the sea 
grew lower and the mountain higher, until at 
last the dragon's body was uncovered. He 
pursued the waters, still drinking, until they 
had receded beyond sight. Then fearing he 
would dry up all the oceans and rivers beyond, 
the all-powerful Spirits called him back. 
Seeking to return to the gate of heaven, his 
wings were unable to carry his swollen body, 
and he fell back to the earth with such force 
that his neck was broken off completely, and 
he lay a huge crushed carcass on the land. 
Such was the origin of the Mountain of the 
Dragon, or Cheyenne Mountain as it is called 
to-day. From his opened neck there issued a 
torrent of blood and water which made the 
soil over which it flowed the most fertile in 
the world. And after all the blood had flowed 
from his veins, there still issued a stream of 
the purest water, and the sweetest for quench- 
ing the thirst ever known. This fable of the 
Lizard Dragon, Thirst, is strikingly character- 
istic of a land where thirst was one of the 
familiar terrors; and perhaps no creature of 



LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 33 

the region is a fitter embodiment of the con- 
ception than the lizard, which frequents the 
dryest places. There is probably an allusion 
to this legend in the quaint old Indian chant, 
which in translation would run as follows: 

"On deer path or war path 

I wish I were like the lizard, 

Never thirsting because his grandfather 

Once had all he wanted to drink. 

But my grandfather was always thirsty." 

No one who looks upon Cheyenne from the 
heights to the east or northeast of the city of 
Colorado Springs can fail to recognize the 
bloated form of the petrified monster, even to 
the spurs upon its back. 

The mountain on which the parents of the 
new race were left was so steep and inaccess- 
ible that they could contrive no way to escape 
from it. At last when their supply of maize 
was nearly gone, and the land below began to 
grow beautiful with new verdure, the Spirits 
told them to get into the boat and, after the 
manner of Quetzalcoatl, to slide down. The 
track made by the boat may even yet be seen 
on the eastern face of the mountain, and was a 



34 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 

favorite resort of Ouetzalcoatl, the sliding god; 
and the boat itself, the cradle of the race, was 
of course preserved. From the campus of the 
college it can best be seen, riding the ridges of 
the granite waves that flow tumultuously by 
that eminence west of Cheyenne known as St. 
Peter's Dome. It is shaped like the familiar 
birch-bark canoe, curving high at either 
end, and in it sit two worshipful figures, 
one plying the paddle. One of the most 
frequent embellishments in Aztec MSS. pic- 
tures such a canoe moving over a flood toward 
a lone mountain. 

At the foot of the mountain they found the 
most beautiful climate in the world, for being 
directly under the portals of heaven it shared 
with the Spirits the overflowing effulgence of 
celestial light and atmosphere. But the sub- 
siding waters had left about the foot of the 
mountain all manner of dead creatures, and 
these with the body of the dragon filled the air 
with pestilence. Then the parents of mankind 
prayed to the Spirits for help. And the 
Spirits heard their prayer. They turned the 
huge body of the dragon to stone, and they 



LEGENDS OF THE PIKE\S PEAK REGION. 35 



granted to the parents of mankind that this 
their home should never know the curse of 
disease, but that it should be held sacred as a 
place of healing for all the tribes. As a pledge 
of their promise they sent to them Waters of 
Life, so that the land was made sweet, the 
pestilence stayed, and all diseases healed. 
And such was the origin of the celebrated 
springs of Manitou, which retain all their 
miraculous virtues to this day. 

For a long time the inhabitants of the 
earth dwelt in the ease and luxury of a golden 
age. But soon their numbers so increased 
that it was no longer easy to live without care, 
and the people were obliged to diffuse them- 
selves over the region round about. Then 
came three of the Lesser Spirits, and dwelt 
among them. One taught them agriculture ; 
from the second they learned how to make 
weapons and set traps, and hunt successfully ; 
and the third instructed them in religion and 
government. Each of these Spirits built for 
himself a magnificent titanic temple and home. 
Although it is impossible to identify each 
temple with its particular deity, the three are 



36 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 

are well known by their modern names as The 
Garden of the Gods, Glen Eyrie, and Blair 
Athol. It was the mission of the third Spirit 
to lead them to the worship of the one and 
single All Father, the great Manitou, whose 
home was in the heaven of heavens, and whose 
manifestation was the sun. It is a familiar 
fact that the worship of the sun, as the most 
obvious type of regenerative life, was one of 
the very earliest and most widely spread 
germs of religion, not only among the primi- 
tive nations of America, but in the Old World 
as well. And the purist of to-day who sees 
nothing worshipful in these manifestations of 
the deity, may by his own misconceptions 
know less of some of the attributes of that 
deity than did his more reverent fellow in days 
of ignorant barbarism. 

At first under the instruction of the Spirit, 
the people became so enthusiastically faithful 
in their devotion to the new religion, that 
when their eyes were closed, and even at night 
the image of the Manitou ever stood before 
them, and tradition tells us that they were 
often afflicted with blindness. It was not 



LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 37 

unnatural that awe and fear predominated over 
love in such religion, and that their god was 
at times a Moloch in their sight. Moreover 
only the clearer eyes of the royal family and 
of the higher priestly class, could discern the 
exact features of the Manitou in that blaze of 
glory. 

At last certain of the people, urged by some 
of the royal princes, implored the Spirit to 
intercede for them, and ask the Manitou 
graciously to throw aside this impenetrable 
and awful veil of splendor, wherewith he was 
wont to envelope his countenance, and favor 
them with a more endurable manifestation of 
his watchful care. After much persuasion the 
Spirit consented to undertake the precarious 
mission. 

Soon the people noted that the sun, which 
had hitherto passed directly above the moun- 
tain, was gradually withdrawing towards the 
south. His warmth lessened, plants perished, 
and the first Winter came with its new and 
strange hardships. Flocks of birds were seen 
flying after the departing sun. Many among 
the people followed their god, and despon- 



38 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 

dency fell upon the children of the peak when 
they realized that their Manitou was offended. 
But soon those who remained were cheered 
by a new presence in the heavens, a milder, 
more acceptable manifestation of the Manitou. 
The silver moon appeared with its varying 
phases, now in one part of the sky, now in 
another, but ever showing clearly to all eyes 
the plain features of the Manitou. But the 
Manitou still showed the supremacy of the 
sun by paling the new image in its presence, 
and causing the moon to do reverence to the 
sun by wholly yielding to its glory for some 
days every month, after which the moon came 
forth with renewed beauty; for that invisible 
image in the sun was stamped anew upon the 
face of the moon each time that it drew near 
the god of day, thus insuring an accurate 
reproduction, much to the satisfaction of the 
thoughtful. These wonderful changes in 
heaven and earth caused consternation 
through all neighboring nations, and couriers 
were sent from tribe ' to tribe. When it was 
found that only the children of the peak could 
explain the inexplicable phenomena, great was 



LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 39 



the increase of their power and authority. 
• The reverence for the Manitou now deep- 
ened among the people. They found that the 
rigors of Winter were after all a blessing with 
few disadvantages. And soon the Manitou 
became so pleased with the worshipers that he 
even brought back the sun from the low skies 
of the south, the birds returned, and some of 
those who had followed the sun in his retreat, 
sought their old homes, with strange tales of 
their travels. 

But votaries of the changing moon were 
themselves a fickle and restless folk of varying 
moods, though when a great discontentment 
arose again it was through their devotion to 
steadfastness. It was the old craving for a 
greater familiarity with the gods, which we 
find among the most religious races of man- 
kind, that led the people to their new discon- 
tent. Only for a part of the time could they 
worship the inconstant moon, and the priests 
felt that when its face was turned from them 
there was a laxity of discipline which could 
not fail to be serious. So the tutelary Lesser 
Spirit was again implored to intercede for 



40 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 

them and obtain the gracious favor of a more 
continuous revelation of the presence of the 
Manitou. They wished to see him and worship 
him daily and hourly if need be. The Lesser 
Spirit received their message, but in departing 
with it for the gate of heaven he bade them 
farewell forever. 

Soon after the great mountain was wrapped 
in dense clouds with thunders and lightnings. 
The mountain shook and the hills and plains 
vibrated as under the heavy blows of earth- 
quake shocks. Day after day passed in terror 
until at length the clouds cleared away and all 
was calm again. Then, lo, a great light fell 
from the open portals of heaven full upon the 
towering mountain top which was at its 
threshold. And there from the highest point 
of the peak shone down upon them a majestic 
and godlike Face. Far out upon the plains, 
far as the heaven-meeting peak could be seen, 
its features were manifest to all, filling the 
observers with awe and an unknown sense of 
the power and nearness of the Manitou. As a 
final seal of sacredness the mark of the symbol 
which had already of old been stamped upon 




the face of the sun and the moon, was now set 
upon the earth, and upon the very mountain of 
their history and religion. And, the legend is 
careful to add, the nation became more unified 
and more powerful than ever, 

"Watched over by the solemn-browed 
And awful face of stone." 

There seemed now no reason for further 
entreaties to the Manitou, whose kind regard 



LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 43 

for his chosen had been so signally shown. 
But with that inspired belief which shows 
itself in all histories, that religion should stop 
short of nothing but absolute perfection 
according to the thinker's own ideas, it was 
not long before the devout priests felt the 
need of giving further information to their 
Overruler. It often happened that while 
perpetual sunshine and moonlight bathed the 
plains, dark clouds wrapped the summit of the 
mountain of the Manitou for days at a time, 
thus concealing their Keblah, and interrupting 
their devotions. Sorrow and murmuring rose 
among the simple people in those days of 
darkness. They dared not undertake a 
journey, perform a tribal ceremony, set their 
traps, plant their maize, or engage in any 
affair of consequence unless the visible face of 
the Manitou looked favorably upon them. 
They were too childlike to worship and trust 
the invisible when the Great Face had once 
been seen. They would that the veil of clouds 
which gathered about the summit of the 
mountains might be dispelled forever. 

After suns and moons of hesitancy and of 



44 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 

longing for the counsel of the departed Lesser 
Spirit, the people were emboldened to send 
an embassy of priests and princes up the stair- 
way of the mountain to the gate of heaven, 
with their petition to the Manitou. The last 
three steps of this vast stairway are still 
plainly seen just north of Cheyenne Mountain, 
and bear the modern names of Monte Rosa, 
Mount Grover, and Mount Cutler. Amid 
the prayers and sacrifices of the people these 
departed on their unprecedentedly presump- 
tuous and hazardous mission to the Face of 
the Manitou, the gateway of heaven, and were 
never heard of more. Terrible was the punish- 
ment of their sacrilege in thus approaching 
the inapproachable. Violent storms enveloped 
the mountain to its very base in fire-riven folds 
of darkness. Great rocks came ruining down 
its precipitous sides, or fell from the clouds, 
and night succeeded night with no intervening 
comfort of light. The people fled in terror 
from their quaking homes, and scourges of 
bitter rain and biting hail drove them far out 
upon the plains. These tremendous convul- 
sions threw them prostrate with fear with their 



LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 45 

faces in the dust. For dust, as though the 
mountain were ground to powder, filled the 
air, and has filled it many and many a time 
since in the region about the base of the peak, 
in commemoration of those days of reproof, 
when the stricken inhabitants of the earth 
realized that they were but as the dust of it, 
and were bowed in sack-cloth and ashes. At 
last when the anger of the Manitou was 
appeased the clouds of wrath rolled away, and 
the sun and moon and blue sky came once 
more. What was the bewilderment and awe 
of every beholder to see that the top of the 
sacred mountain had disappeared altogether, 
and no longer reached more than half way to 
the gate of heaven. Mortals should never 
again pass over that lofty stairway. The 
presumptuous ambassadors of the people had 
been hurled from the high threshold, and the 
top of the mountain cast upon them, like 
^Etna on Enceladus. It is a wonder that no 
Spanish priest has here woven in some fable of 
confusion of tongues and dispersion of races, 
but it comes later in the story. 

Though with angry reproof, their prayer 



46 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 

had been answered. For on the plain before 
them, at the foot of the great peak, rose their 
colossal Palladium, that very threshold stone 
of heaven, the topmost step of the stairway of 
spirits, the summit and crown of the old peak, 
still bearing upon it the Great Face of the 
Manitou. Never again were the people pre- 
sumptuous in their religion; and never again 
was the Face concealed from them, however 
heavy the clouds upon the peak, except when 
the spirits were displeased with the nation. 

To this day whoever looks from any point 
on the site of the old capital of the aborigines, 
where now stands the City of Colorado 
Springs, the city of refuge, can still see the 
calm, benignant features of the old god of 
these early Aztecs, on the side of Cameron's 
Cone, the old summit of the discrowned peak. 
The snows of winter hide its features for 
weeks at times; and when the noonday sun 
shines full in its face, the ancient superiority 
of the day-god is shown, for the features are 
then an indistinguishable mass of light and 
shadow. But through Spring, Summer, and 
Autumn, in the afternoon shade, or in the 



LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 47 

fullness of the morning light, it towers in the 
west like a clear vision. More majestic than 
the Zeus Otricoli, grander in design and pro- 
portions than the fabled dream of carven 
Athos, it stands as the most perfect, the sub- 
limest of the sculptures with which unaided 
Nature or the skill of man has adorned the 
earth. One is slow to believe that Nature 
alone could so closely mimic the majesty of 
art, but it is impossible that Aztec hands could 
have wrought out such a colossal conception. 

" 'Twas Nature's will who sometimes undertakes 
For the reproof of human vanity 
Art to outstrip in her peculiar walk." 

To one who would learn how step by step 
the savage mind groped onward, "through 
Nature up to Nature's God," it is clearer than 
all theological lectures. 

For many generations the favored nation 
increased in strength and intelligence. But at 
length a barbarian host, apparently from the 
northeast, came pressing upon them with the 
sweeping onslaught of a herd of buffaloes, 
with the fierceness of mountain lions. It may 
likely have been this very invasion which 



48 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 

furnished to the laureate Southey the material 
for his noblest epic, the story of Madoc and 
the Aztecas of the Missouri Valley. The 
religious people of the peak, relying upon 
their gods alone, fell back before them until 
their very sanctuary was oppressed and 
profaned. 

It is true that in earlier times, when they 
were weaker in number and skill at war, such 
reliance had not been disregarded. For once 
a host of giants and of monsters had attacked 
them from the hostile north, before whom all 
resistance had seemed utterly vain. And then 
a great wonder had taken place. The Manitou 
had turned his mountain face, even as the face 
of an ^Egis, upon the invading bands, and 
straightway each and all had changed to stone! 
It was a terrible sight indeed for future 
enemies to behold that gorgonized army of 
granite giants standing athwart all paths 
approaching from the north or northeast, no 
longer besiegers, but unwilling and silent 
defenders whom no foe had yet found courage 
to approach. And though flood and tempest 
have- overthrown and buried many of them, 



LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 49 



yet by Austin Bluffs and still more in the 
strange, grim forms which give name to the 
world-famous Monument Park, the routed 
remnants of that ancient army may still be 
seen, some standing defiant with shield and 
club uplifted to meet the crash of Death's 
petrific mace, some crouching in eternized 
horror at their impending doom. 

But though the present had living witnesses 
of the truth of this encouraging tradition, yet 
the children of the Manitou had no longer any 
right to expect such needless intervention, and 
finally, encouraged by supernatural signs they 
turned against their enemies and repulsed 
them from their shrines. But on the day after 
the battle the sun arose eclipsed, clouds veiled 
the hills, and a great flood rolled southward 
from the mountain valleys. When light was 
restored to them after a long tempest, lo, the 
air was filled with omens. As once before 
beasts and birds were passing southward in the 
path of the waters, winds were blowing and 
strange clouds drifting in the same direction. 
The scouts brought word of a mighty muster- 
ing of myriads of the enemy from the north. 



50 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 

In the midnight sky auroral warriors, red with 
slaughter, danced the war dance and menaced 
them with destruction. And most terrible, 
most astounding of all, the Great Face which 
had hitherto turned lovingly and fully upon 
them, now looked away to the south! It, too, 
had been eclipsed and turned in a single day. 
There was but one interpretation of the 
omens. Plainly they were to forsake their old 
kingdom, which had grown less and less 
fertile, and less able to support the increas- 
ing numbers of later generations. But all 
that was good should go with them. The 
changed face of the Manitou intimated that 
his watchful care would still follow them in 
their new home, nor would he look with favor 
upon the usurpers. The flood of water told 
that tides of fertility awaited them. The 
departure of birds and beasts in advance of 
their march showed that Nature was still their 
faithful steward. Yet they felt with sadness 
that because they had allowed sacrilegious 
invaders to violate the great sanctuary, they 
must henceforth be expelled from the imme- 
diate presence of the Manitou. 



LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 5 1 



With the departure of this interesting peo- 
ple from the cradle and home of their history, 
the chapter of their story which concerns us 
most is led to a natural end. Indeed it would 
be difficult to continue it, for such records of 
their wanderings as have been found are vague 
and incomplete; no two writers would inter- 
pret them alike. For these people mingled 
with others and lost their individual identity 
when they entered the broad path to Mexico 
over which such extensive migrations were 
then passing. The history of no one of the 
Nahuan nations is intelligible for its migratory 
period. Though the progressive line of archi- 
tectural ruins stretching across the plains and 
down the valleys of New Mexico and Arizona 
into the Aztec empire, would seem to show the 
finger posts of the great marching route of 
these nations, yet so barren are the records of 
the so-called Cliff-Dwellers and other early 
inhabitants of our southwest territory, that 
many historians even doubt the connection 
between the architects of Casa Grande and of 
the palace of the Montezumas. To our minds 
the proofs which may be gathered from the 



52 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 

preceding pages are sufficiently conclusive for 
our purpose. And it is not impossible that 
further researches among the records of these 
mediaeval, these Dark Ages of aboriginal 
history, may set our conclusions beyond the 
reach of skepticism. If our little sketch be 
the means of suggesting to one reader how 
much there is of pleasure, of poetry, of truth, 
of religion, in Nature and natural associa- 
tions, — if it be the means of prompting more 
thorough investigation and more careful 
preservation of every scrap of tradition now 
vanishing among the races of aboriginal 
America, we shall feel that it has not been 
written in vain. 



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